HighTower Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its position in Qualys, Inc. (NASDAQ:QLYS) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,669 shares of the software maker’s stock after selling 463 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Qualys were worth $727,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Qualys during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $261,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Qualys by 243.4% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 807 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 572 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Qualys by 59.2% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 29,406 shares of the software maker’s stock worth $4,193,000 after purchasing an additional 10,937 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Qualys by 294.7% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 225 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. Finally, Argent Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Qualys by 53.6% during the 2nd quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC now owns 3,121 shares of the software maker’s stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. 99.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on QLYS. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Qualys from $160.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Westpark Capital reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Qualys in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Qualys from $120.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Qualys from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $152.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Bruce K. Posey sold 1,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $164,654.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 55,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,885,508.40. The trade was a 2.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Joo Mi Kim sold 1,332 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $157.37, for a total transaction of $209,616.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 113,652 shares in the company, valued at $17,885,415.24. This represents a 1.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 31,190 shares of company stock worth $4,449,290 in the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Qualys Stock Performance

NASDAQ:QLYS opened at $141.37 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $140.93 and its 200 day moving average is $135.61. The firm has a market cap of $5.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.14 and a beta of 0.54. Qualys, Inc. has a 52-week low of $119.17 and a 52-week high of $206.35.

Qualys (NASDAQ:QLYS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The software maker reported $1.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.23. Qualys had a return on equity of 40.24% and a net margin of 28.72%. The firm had revenue of $153.87 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $150.74 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Qualys, Inc. will post 4.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Qualys

Qualys, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based platform delivering information technology (IT), security, and compliance solutions in the United States and internationally. It offers Qualys Cloud Apps, which include Cybersecurity Asset Management and External Attack Surface Management; Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response; Web Application Scanning; Patch Management; Custom Assessment and Remediation; Multi-Vector Endpoint Detection and Response; Context Extended Detection and Response; Policy Compliance; File Integrity Monitoring; and Qualys TotalCloud, as well as Cloud Workload Protection, Cloud Detection and Response, Cloud Security Posture Management, Infrastructure as Code, and Container Security.